Subtle things only true pro's can do - Sports, Art

Cafe Society
41

I don’t believe the distinction between full-time professional and part-time professional or amateur is really apt in music, or most arts, really, when it comes to deciding matters of skill.

Outside of the field consisting of performers of art music/serious music (insert whatever out-of-date term you like), lots of pros in rock, and jazz, for instance, have the reputation of being hacks. This isn’t just because there are loads of weekend warriors who might have superior instrumental skills, but rather that, on the one hand, scuffling for gigs often forces the musician of average skill to accept wedding jobs, corporate parties, cocktail hours, and, on the other hand, the set of skills a musician develops as a professional, as opposed to an amateur are largely extra-musical. Glad-handing, promoting, having the tux pressed, obsessing over the live rig, fixing the PA, printing an extra set of lead sheets, etc.

Anyway, I don’t know a single musician who doesn’t get paid occasionally to perform, whatever their level of employment elsewhere (including a private income, which I’d consider a “straight job”).

The distinction works much better for sports, where the line is more firmly drawn. 9-Ball is indeed an excellent example of a situation where the pros really lean on the kind of experience one only gets from playing the game against really deep opponents.

42

Aikido.

I am not anywhere near a master - I am one of those slow clumsy people who takes ages to get something right, gets it wrong again right after, is always reverting to older and worse technique, can’t remember how to do what I was shown last week, etc.etc.

However, people like me tend to keep practicing because we have a high frustration threshold, and lo and behold, twelve and a half years later, I got a black belt, and I’m figuring out stuff on a slightly higher level.

For the last months (and the next months to years) I’m working on this insane idea our sensei showed us. It goes like this: any time you want to use your left hand and arm with any power or strength, your weight has to be mostly on your right foot; right hand, weight on left foot.

It sounds too simple and stupid to be true until you try it. Then it turns out to be dazzling.

It turns out to be true for many many human motions. A bunch of us at an aikido seminar once repaired to a sports bar (we like beer) and sat under a mural of DiMaggio pitching. How extraordinarily like a motion in our throws. Well, of course. Throwing a ball and throwing another person’s body have to have the same form deep down. There are only so many ways to move the human body, and darn few if you want to make them fluid, relaxed, functional, and efficient. Minimum effort, maximum efficiency, as the founder of judo put it. Sure DiMaggio would’ve agreed.

Also, the weight shifts back and forth as you alternate using your strong arm and letting it relax like a sleeping baby’s. This is true when you throw a ball too, only you probably never noticed it. Trying to think about it when you throw is guaranteed to screw you up.

But then it improves you later. Much, much later in my case. But like I said, I’m used to that. And I can watch my sensei do it, and feel my jaw hit my upper chest.

By the way, the only exception to the rule is when you are working vertically: if the other person’s body is dead above your centerline, feel free to hold him up with the same hand as the foot your weight is on.

Second by the way: the principle comes from Chen Man-chang’s Tai Chi, where it is called, confusingly, “Differentiate the substantial from the insubstantial.”

43

Jaledin - you’re kinda missing the point - true, “pro” in this case is really meant to indicate someone who has invested THOUSANDS of hours to TRULY know the nuanced facets of what they are doing, but that is it. And, sure, musicians have to scrap - but that doesn’t change my point. Knowing how to handle the craft of doing tough gigs or getting a certain technique down after doing it hundreds of times live so it is smooth where for your average person it is a struggle - that’s all I am looking for…

44

I know someone who can eviscerate a body in minutes flat.

45

OK, I’m plenty happy with this – there is certainly a big difference between a master musician who has, not just practiced, but played for many many hours and somebody struggling to copy some guitar figures written out in tablature in a magazine. Unfortunately, I see a lot of the latter level of skill among professionals as well, among keyboardists, for example, not doing their own transcriptions, not keeping the chops up (relative to their goals – not everyone needs fast chops, I realize), not knowing music theory, but somehow managing to connect with audiences despite low musicianship, but that’s a completely other thing.

Thanks for clarifying – makes perfect sense.

46

Cool. And to your obseration above - being able to connect with an audience is a nuanced thing only pros (in my working def for this thread) can do well. Someone might not be technically brilliant in their art, but it is sufficient enough for them to couple it with other skills to connect. Reading an audience and trusting your judgment to modify your approach and go in the direction you are feeling takes a LOT of time to learn to listen to. Punching in a new song, or making a mistake, but everyone going with it and carrying the crowd with it and turning it into a new stamp you put on that song and include from that point on - that is a subtle thing.

47

I hang around a lot with magicians. Some of the pros, especially those who specialise in close-up sleight of hand or stage manipulations, train themselves to do insanely difficult things with their hands, requiring literally years of practise. What’s more, in performance, they have to execute these moves in a split second, without giving it a thought, without paying any attention to their hands, and while talking to the spectators and inter-acting with them as normal. And also without being seen, of course! A lot of magic is naff and easy, but there are a few guys who truly elevate sleight of hand to an artistic level.

It’s hard to give examples because in the main I’m referring to moves that take a lot of explaining, and we don’t discuss them in public anyway. But just as a taster of mad devotion, try this. Take a deck of 52 cards, shuffle it thoroughly. With the cards face up, try to sort the deck into its four constituent suits: clubs, hearts, spades and diamonds. You can only go through the deck once to do this, and you have to keep the cards in your hands at all times. I know several guys who have practised to the point where they can do this in under fifteen seconds. It sounds kinda nerdy and pointless, but this kind of ‘culling’ does have its uses.

48

This reads like an instruction on how to write Lord of the Rings.

49

Please specify your definition of “eviscerate”, 'cause if it’s close to mine I’d like to know where this person learned it, how he/she got the opportunity to practice it, and why.

50

Take out the organs in a single block from hyoid bone to sigmoid colon. If it helps, we only practice it on dead people, we get paid to do it to help the State figure out cause and manner of death in suspicious, unusual, unnatural, or violent cases, and she is a forensic pathologist, like me.

But faster than me.

51

Ah. Got it.

52

I recently read Why Michael Couldn’t Hitby Neurologist Harold L Klawans about various aspects of the influence of neurology in sport. Discussing Gretsky he said that Gretsky’s scoring abilities came not from his shot speed nor his accuracy, which many players have, but the speed with which he could “pull the trigger”. Gretsky could react to opportunity faster than anyone else. Gretzky himself claimed that he never had to turn his head to pass to other players and in fact didn’t even look at them such was his ability to sense motion far from the centre of his vision.

53

When I read this, the guy I thought about was Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Swedish soccer star. I’m uninterested in sports as a whole, but I can appreciate the skill involved and Zlatan’s skill borders on the beautiful. I saw this one goal where he saw his teammate out of the corner of his eye and several seconds later knew exactly where to put the ball so the teammate could put it into the net.

54

Coincidentally today they had a spot on TV about Ibrahimovic as part of the World Cup coverage, he was juggling his ball of bubble gum like a soccer ball, then kicked it up in the air and into his mouth. At one stage he was described as half assassin half artist.

55

If they ever invent the exploding soccer ball, his services will be in high demands by organized crime everywhere.

56

Let’s talk about good photographers. One doesn’t have to be a “pro” to be one, and many “pros” are not terribly good. But a good photographer does some things jsut by instinct (or trained instinct) that average picture grabbers don’t.

Depth of field control. Not just having everything in focus, unless the photo needs that, but properly slecting the focus and depth for the best results. Sometimes everything but the subject needs to be a wash, sometimes there needs to some depth but not overall, and sometimes the entire field of view needs to be in focus. A good photography knows the differences, knows howto do the different effects, and knows just what effect that particular subject needs.

Details. Making sure there is nothing else (in foreground, back gound, next to, etc…) in the field of view that will compete for attention in the finished photo.

Lighting. Knowing where the Sun is, what differnt colours of light do, whether to use relectors or fill flash, etc…

Filters. Not just for special effects, but for enhancing contrasts up or down, correcting for colour shifts, eliminating reflections, etc…

Lots of pics get taken. Few photos get made. A good photographer knows the difference and is able to make the difference.

57

As the saying goes, Ibrahimovic has “great feet for a big man”. Not many big, powerful players (and he is a big guy, 6’4" and 14 stone) have his ball control and vision. I’m more impressed, however, by his balance and ability to change direction. In his final game for Ajax, he scores one of the greatest individual goals i’ve ever seen, waltzing past 5 or 6 opposition players before scoring.

Unless you’re referring to a different instance, “half ballerina, half gangster” was the quote.

58

Last night, CBC replayed the entire Oiler/Boston cup final game from 1998, and I watched it again. Man that team was great. But what really freaked me out was a move Gretzky made - he was skating with the puck into the opponent’s zone, and he turned away from his winger who was following him in - and a second or two later threw a pass * backwards between his legs* while skating in the opposite direction, and put it right on the tape of his winger’s stick. No one saw that pass coming, so the winger was left open.

Another goal he scored emphasized his fast reaction time. He was at the side of the net, and someone else shot the puck at the net. It came off the goalie’s skate, Gretzky nabbed it and flipped it into the net so fast you could barely tell what had just happened.

59

The obvious question: how the heck could the winger react quickly enough for that pass to be of any use? Damn, I wouldn’t have the guts to play with someone like Gretzky (even if I could skate worth beans); the pressure to use passes like that would kill me.

60

Well, if it was Jari Kurri… That would do it. He had the ability to pick those Gretzky passes up all the time. THey were a great team.